Pete Carroll: The state of the Seahawks heading into their home opener

Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys come to CenturyLink Field on Sunday for the Seahawks’ home opener. And after last weekend’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals, the Seahawks are looking to make a statement.

Carroll talks to Lynch during the Seahawks' loss to the Cardinals this past Sunday in Glendale, Ariz. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Seattle played fairly well but there were a few key trouble areas: penalties, dropped catches, protecting the quarterback and, yes, the moments when QB Russell Wilson looked a bit like the rookie he is. The Seahawks’ longest run against the Cardinals was just 11 yards, and while running back Marshawn Lynch was a powerful offensive tool, he didn’t quite get the help from the offensive line he needed to provide a big rushing threat and open up Seattle’s passing game.

This weekend against the Cowboys, who just knocked off the reigning Super Bowl champion New York Giants, the Seahawks will have an even bigger challenge. Dallas’ defense is suffocating against the run, and that puts even more pressure on Wilson to put up yards and points through the air.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks’ defense will need to double-down on pass coverage and rushing Dallas’ quarterback. Romo is one of the most popular quarterbacks for a reason, and he was able to put up 290 307 passing yards last weekend against the Giants. (Correction: Romo had 307 yards, not 290 — Dallas had 290 total yards in the air.)

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll knows all of this, and knows the true state of his team. He knows what Seattle needs to work on and focus on heading into Sunday’s home opener. And he also knows how his players are doing — which guys will be coming back from injuries and which guys are sitting this one out.

Below are some excerpts (via the official transcript) from Carroll’s press conference Wednesday:

Head coach Pete Carroll —

Pete Carroll. (Getty Images)

Opening remarks: We’re starting out this week getting going with this homecoming opportunity. It’s a big deal for us, it’s a big deal for the 12th Man and everybody that follows us, and we really want to get prepared in the right way and have a heck of a game here. When you have a first week issue whatever it was win or lose, you have to show the discipline of what it takes to get back on track and not be affected by the game before you. This is one of those chances for us. As a young team, we’re going to see if we can put together a great week and really come out smoking, and have the kind of preparations that allows us to play well. That’s what they’re handed right now and I’m counting on these guys. They’ve already heard it and that’s what should show up today.

The Dallas football team came out smoking in week one. They looked great against the world champs, they functioned in a lot of areas, and they played against a really good football team, and found a way to win on the road. The quarterback played great. They made big plays from guys across the board and the defense came through. The changes that they made in their defense on the back end showed up and did some nice things for them. This is going to be a very challenging opponent and there is no reason to see anything other than that. The quarterback is amazing, and we’re going to have to do a really good job on defense to give ourselves a chance. We’re excited about this opportunity, it’s great to be coming home and we’re looking forward to that.

On the balance of Dallas’ offense: They’re just really well equipped. DeMarco Murray is a really good football player. He jumped on the scene last year and everybody saw it. He was a great college player. He was hard on us last year, we had trouble tackling him. He had a lot of big games until he got hurt, and now he’s back roaring and ready to go again. They have a legit running game that you really have to deal with. That really makes it hard because Tony Romo is so good, makes so many great decisions, and he puts them in the right place so often. He plays like a true pro, experienced guy that can check and get them out of problems. With Jason Witten and Dez Bryant, the whole crew, it’s a very talented group. This is as hard of a group we’ll see, and we’ll keep seeing them like this, but this is a really good challenging offense.

On Dallas’ defense compared to Arizona’s: They’re different. It’s a 3-4 group, but they have different principles about the way they play. They’re really talented and athletic and fast and tough. There’s a different style. One of them is Pittsburgh origin and this one is from the Ryan family where you can get a little bit of anything. They’re not the same in what they’re trying to do, but they are both really good and effective.

On playing the storied franchise of the Cowboys: A lot of these guys grew up watching and hearing, and admiring them, so it could be, it could factor in. guys could think differently about it, I hope we don’t. That’s another discipline about knowing it doesn’t really matter who you play, you still have to get ready and got to go. The game doesn’t mean any more than another, they’re all huge.

On the difference of playing at home versus on the road: This is a really special setting. And it’s fun, it’s great to be there and feel it. We also want to take advantage of our home crowd and play well for them and try to build momentum. We have eight huge games and we’re going to try and get all these games won to put us in a playoff situation so we can come back here. All of that is so vital. We need to perform really well and that means that the week has to go very well in order for all of that. So it’s a big deal. We all know, we all been there and it’s a good a place in the world that you could be for game day.

What discouraged Carroll about the Arizona game: Two things: One that we weren’t cleaner up front on offense. We were counting on being cleaner in pass protection. The other is that we got there with the winning opportunity and didn’t finish it, and the penalties. I was really disappointed in that. There were a lot of calls in the game, a bunch of penalties were called, but we do not want to play like that so we’re we worked like crazy to get this done. We did it all the way through the preseason improving, not to where we want to, but we improved. But to go out in the first game and go in the double digits is wrong. That’s not the way we want to be, that’s not what we’re intending. I take it upon myself to make sure that we’re pointing out the right things for the guys so that they can avoid them.

On how the Seahawks can fix that: We’re doing it with every bit of emphasis that we can. We’re even taking guys out if we think we have a reason to. We do have to learn the way things are being called too. We do have to adapt to the way different crews are calling and what they’re calling. This is a new opportunity for us to learn. We’re kind of learning about them as we go, but there’s a lot of stuff being called that we have to adjust to. That means we really have to keep our hands off of guys down field. It is a major point of emphasis for us so we’ll just keep going after it, pointing it out, if we have to take guys out of the game we’ll take them out.

On what he’s told Seattle’s offensive line after they underperformed at Arizona: It was about communicating. It was really clear that was the issue for us. We didn’t take advantage of our calls as well as we had been doing so we didn’t target as well. That’s something that we can do well, we’ve been doing it, but for whatever reason in this game we weren’t as effective as we have been and it caused some problems for us. So we go right back to the basics of it and get us on the right guys and we’ll be fine. But that’s really what we’re talking about this week, just communicating.

On how the O-line can better protect Seattle’s quarterback: We’ll we have to give the quarterback a little bit more of a chance. We have to protect better. I said that after the ball game that protection was really an issue for us. They did a nice job of rushing us, but we got to give him a chance to get the ball off. We went up top a couple of times that we didn’t connect; we had been hitting those earlier in the preseason so we expect that that would come back to life again. We have plenty of plays to call and opportunities we just have to give the quarterback a chance to get the ball down there.

His evaluation of the receivers at Arizona: They had chances. I think that there were some opportunities for some big plays in there later in the game. It was going to take a great catch, it was going to take a special play, but our guys can make those catches. Doug almost had it. He knocked his teeth out making the grab, and Braylon had a shot there with somebody hanging on them. We had those chances, so I’m disappointed that we weren’t able to make that catch to win the football game. We had our shots at it and Russell got us down there, we just needed to finish it. He could’ve thrown the ball a little better, but that inability to convert on that play that changes the game was really what was frustrating about it. I though they played hard and worked at it, got open in normal situations. It was just that the final catch that we were looking for, we just needed one more.

On QB Russell Wilson and how he can improve: There was a couple times where he didn’t take advantage of the preparation, when he had a look that he could’ve gone to that was easier than the one he chose. He went to Sidney a couple of times when he could’ve gone to Braylon, when Braylon had a better look on the other side. There are a couple of times he took off when we had the protection, and he felt like maybe we didn’t. Those will come when he trusts and understands that we do have the right call and we got the guys that are picking things up and he’ll sit in there a little bit better, but that was only really two plays. And also we didn’t convert a couple of times when we needed to, to make a difference in the game. Third downs are huge. We don’t hit those third down you have to go sit down instead of getting a whole other series.

On the running game at Arizona: Yeah not as good as we would like. We were kind of solid on Marshawn’s four yards per carry, kind of a solid running game for him, but we never had the big breakout play that you’re looking for. They did a nice job; we missed a couple of opportunities too, so we’ll keep pushing at it. We’re not going to back off on that at all.

On the status of RB Marshawn Lynch, who had been experiencing back spasms: He had a good week. For the kind of work that he was able do to physically. He came out (of the Arizona game) in great shape. He was able to play the whole game with a bunch of reps, and he came out of it OK, so we’re very fortunate of that.

On the status of Seahawks WR Carly Martin, who got injured at Arizona: Charly is going to miss this week. He had a fairly seriously bruised lung. He stayed in the hospital overnight. He feels fine and he’s getting around fine, but it’s just severe enough that he’s going to have to take a week or so to get back, we’ll see how that takes.

On the status of Seahawks WR Golden Tate, who missed the Arizona game with a knee injury: Golden is going to practice today (Wednesday). He’s had a good recovery, but he has to make it through the week to show us that he can do all the things that we need to do. He’s encouraged and feels really good. He had a great workout yesterday so he’ll get some limited work today and we’ll step it up tomorrow (Thursday).

On whether he’ll make a roster move for another receiver: Not at this time.

On the status of Seahawks OT Russell Okung, who bruised his knee at Arizona: Russell will not practice today (Wednesday). He tried going and we’re going to wait until tomorrow (Thursday) and try him again. It looks like the kind of bruise he has he’ll able to get better by the weekend; it might be hard for him to get much work early. So we’ll just take it one day at a time. He plans on playing.

On whether missing Okung could change Seattle’s offense: It could. We have some problems with what they do and their personnel that we have to take care of first, but frank is an equipped player. Frank has played a lot in the league and has started on both sides, left and right tackle. We played against him awhile back in Chicago, so he can handle his own. He’s the backup. We won’t change much, we’ll just have to see how the week goes and how he plays and how he looks in case that he does play.

On the status of Seahawks WR Doug Baldwin, who got his front teeth knocked out at Arizona: He’s good, he’s going and he’s practicing today (Wednesday). His teeth and his smile are back.

On the status of Seahawks QB Matt Flynn, who’s still nursing a sore throwing arm: He’s limited on throwing still. He’ll throw a little bit today (Wednesday). He didn’t throw on this day last week so he’s a little better than he was a week ago.

On the status of Seahawks G John Moffitt, who is recovering from elbow surgery. Rookie J.R. Sweezy started in his place at Arizona: John Moffitt is back and ready to go and we’re going to play him this week, he’s start at right guard for us. It’s good to have him back in, he was almost there last week. If he makes it through the week solid and healthy then we’ll get a chance to see John come back for us, which will be great.

On the competition between Moffitt and Sweezy: We’ll see how John does. J.R. has done a great job for us. All the way throughout he’s been growing and getting better. He had a hard game this last week. The fact that John has a chance to come back, he’s ready to play again. John was starting before he got hurt, so we’ll see how this goes. We feel like we have two guys that can play. Sweezy has done a remarkable job to get this far and I think he can only continue to improve and get better with every experience. It was really a challenge for him last week, but I’d expect J.R. to play in this game and be part of it regardless if John starts or not. We’re counting on John to start it until he can’t, but Sweezy will be ready to play. We’ll see how it goes from here. Is it competitive? Yeah. It’s a really competitive spot for us.

On whether he pushed Sweezy too much in training camp: We really didn’t have a choice when you look at it. I thought he was just outstanding. He did everything beyond our expectations, and we just kept hoping that he would be able to be settle and comfortable in the first game. It wasn’t quite that, but it wasn’t because he wasn’t physical or tough or any of that. It just was a lot happening, and he needs more time. John really wasn’t available, he didn’t dress last week, and he wasn’t ready to go. I think it’s gone way beyond what we could have hoped. We’ll have a terrific football player in Sweezy when he gets right. He’s going to play this weekend, and we’re still counting on him to do well and be part of the growth of the team.

On scouting the replacement refs more than before: It’s just come to light for all of the reasons of emphasizing the penalty situation that we need to know more and need to be more aware of what’s going on around us and who’s calling the penalties. It gives me more opportunity to be focusing on the issue at hand.